Recent developments in neuro-ophthalmology

Abstract

Some recent advances in neuro-ophthalmology including clinical trials, diagnostic testing and newly elucidated disease entitites were summarized in present paper, such as neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.The review goes into great detail regarding recent clinical trials in neuro-ophthalmology.These trials have investigated the management of idiopathic intracranial hypertension as well as treatment of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy and optic nerve glioma.The potential gene therapy for Leber hereditary optic neuropathy seems very promising and may have a significant clinical impact within the next few years.This review also includes an extensive discussion about the application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT-angiography (OCTA) in neuro-ophthalmology.OCT has important clinical relevance not only for the diagnosis and management of optic neuropathies, such as optic neuritis, ischemic optic neuropathy and chiasmal compression, but also for retro-chiasmal injury.In terms of OCTA, recent studies have demonstrated increased vessel density in acute stage of ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) and optic neuritis, but decreased vessel density in severe papilloedema and late stage of optic atrophy of any cause.These serve as the potential foundation for future clinical applications.Ophthalmologists should pay more attentions to these recent progress in neuro-ophthalmology. Key words: Neuro-ophthalmology; Clinical trials, intracranial hypertension; Leber's optic neuropathy; Optical coherence tomography; Optical coherence tomography angiography; Optic neuritis; Ischemic optic neuropathy